Barack Obama Responds To Trump Ending DACA

Former President Barack Obamareportedly warned President Trump that he would speak out publicly if his new administration ever targeted Dreamers.

Well, it’s happened. Trump pulled the trigger this morning and Obama has taken to social media with a very lengthy response.

“To target hopeful young strivers who grew up here is wrong, because they’ve done nothing wrong,” Obama tweeted Tuesday afternoon, hours after Attorney General Jeff Sessionsannounced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), signed by Obama in 2012 as an executive order, is being phased out. DACA protected young people who were brought to the United States illegally as children from being deported.

Obama’s tweet included a link to his full statement on Facebook, where he explained in detail his reason for signing the executive order in the first place, and why today’s action from the Trump administration is flat-out “wrong,” “cruel” and “self-defeating.”

To target hopeful young strivers who grew up here is wrong, because they’ve done nothing wrong. My statement: https://t.co/TCxZdld7L4

“To target these young people is wrong – because they have done nothing wrong,” he wrote. “It is self-defeating – because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel. What if our kid’s science teacher, or our friendly neighbor turns out to be a Dreamer? Where are we supposed to send her? To a country she doesn’t know or remember, with a language she may not even speak?

“Let’s be clear: the action taken today isn’t required legally. It’s a political decision, and a moral question. Whatever concerns or complaints Americans may have about immigration in general, we shouldn’t threaten the future of this group of young people who are here through no fault of their own, who pose no threat, who are not taking away anything from the rest of us.

They are that pitcher on our kid’s softball team, that first responder who helps out his community after a disaster, that cadet in ROTC who wants nothing more than to wear the uniform of the country that gave him a chance. Kicking them out won’t lower the unemployment rate, or lighten anyone’s taxes, or raise anybody’s wages.”